Hot or Cold?
by Tristana
Summary: Leonardo's testing the proprieties of an ice cube and Ezio serves his purpose as Leo's personal guinea-pig. Again. - crack -


Title: Hot or cold?

Prompt from kinkmeme: Inspiration was to be taken from the captcha. For this story, the captcha was: 'Is ice hot of cold?'

Characters: Leonardo and Ezio. No pairing.

Summary: Leonardo's testing the proprieties of an ice cube and Ezio serves his purpose as Leo's personal guinea-pig. Again.

Warning: Crack. Leonardo being his usual, enthusiastic self and Ezio being the victim. Nothing major, really.

* * *

"Amazing, truly wonderful!"

Ezio looked up from the dagger he was sharpening to look at his friend - who was currently hovering above a block of ice, taking notes and muttering now and then. He smiled at the engineer's constant and indiscriminate curiosity about everything around him. Though really, he had to wonder: how could a block of ice be so interesting?

As though he had sensed his unspoken question, Leonardo turned around with that sheepish look he got every time he got carried away about something.

"Ezio, please, can you come over for a minute, I would like to ask you something."

Now, that was dangerous. Though he absolutely trusted the artist, there had been times when this trust got him into trouble. Like that one time he crashed onto a roof thanks to a certain machine of his. Nevermind that the problem had been settled, Ezio had learned to be wary. Especially when Leonardo asked him to 'come over for a minute'. He did, however, putting his weapon away and approaching slowly the table.

""What is it- HEY!" Leonardo had just about grabbed his hand to lay it flat on the giant cube of ice. Cold seeped through his fingers and into his bones, chilling his hand. Only to be released seconds afterwards. "What was that for?" Anyone else would have ended up with a bloody nose but Ezio would never hit his friend.

"Is it cold or hot?"

Ezio was dumbfounded by the question, but the apparently genuine interest of Leonardo for his answer was even more startling. He tried though. "Well, it's cold. Very cold. Why would you ask?"

Leonardo pondered for some time - and asked him to lay his hand on the ice yet again, this time keeping it longer. The experience was not pleasing in the slightest but again, what could he do but comply? It was not like he had anything better to do anyway.

This time, cold went straight to his bones, his skin prickling as though tiny needles were jammed all at once through his hand. It ran up his wrist and into his arm. He put his left hand over his skin, thinking it slightly strange how the cold remained in his bones but did not reflect in his skin. Now the needles hurt more and more, it was as though someone had lit them with something, ice-cold morphing into scalding pain that covered his palm and fingers. He did not even feel it when he withdrew his hand, only when Leonardo took it between his. The sudden warmth hurt, possibly more than the cold and he had to fight the sudden urge to dance about the place, shaking his hand around as though it were on fire.

"So?"

"Too cold. It was like... a burn or something."

At this Leonardo seemed relieved and jotted more notes on parchment in his unintelligible handriting of his.

"Now, Leonardo, can you explain to me why would you ask?"

"You see, perception is what make us see the world as it is. Ice is cold and fire is hot, as you know." Looking briefly at the assassin to see if he followed, Leonardo went on: "However, ice is different. It appears that even though it is supposed to be cold, you end up thinking of it as hot. So I wanted to know how it could happen."

"And what did you find?"

"Certainly, when you are facing an extreme, you perception meets the other extreme, turning extreme cold into extreme heat." The artist looked at his friend and then went back to his work, taking more notes and muttering to himself, leaving Ezio standing, forgotten, in the middle of the room, still clutching his right hand that currently felt as though his skin had been peeled off.


End file.
